Album review

Lobi Traoré

Rainy Season Blues

Paris 

20/09/2010 - 

Accompanied by just his instrument, the Malian singer and guitarist Lobi Traoré recorded the tracks from this latest album Rainy Season Blues before his sudden death in June 2010.

For over fifteen years, music lovers and professionals from around the world passing through Bamako made sure they met Lobi Traore. He may not have enjoyed the same international reputation as his compatriot Ali Farka Touré – who actually produced his second album Bamako in 1994 – but this respected Malian musician did lay some of the core building blocks of African blues.

The albums Segou and then Duga both undeniably contributed to taking the music style beyond the African continent. The American producer and musician Chris Eckman, who was involved in developing the career of the Tuareg group Tamikrest, finally came across Lobi in 2008. The following year, the guitarist, who is a native of the Ségou region, handed him a cassette comprising a few rough demos. Impressed by what he heard, Eckman immediately reserved the Bogolan Studio. The Malian arrived early at the studio and then rolled off his compositions without leaving his chair for four hours!

The result, entitled Rainy Season Blues, translates that intense session into something beautifully simple. The impression of proximity is so strong that it feels as if Lobi is right beside you on the sofa, leaning over his guitar, strumming unaware of what is going on around him, with only his emotions guiding his voice and his fingers on the chords.

Some tracks have already had previous lives, like Djougouya Magni, which came out on The Lobi Traoré Group in 2005. In the space of this album’s ten tracks, the bluesman brushes the zenith of his genre. It is a completely unique moment, out of time, where man and guitar become one. On the same day as the long and prolific recording session, Lobi went on to perform another five hours of music to entertain a wedding. Then in the evening, around midnight, he started out on a third marathon in a club in town, plucking chords until the first rays of dawn.

Lobi Traoré Rainy Season Blues (Glitterhouse/Differ-Ant) 2010

Bertrand  Lavaine

Translation : Anne-Marie  Harper